


I Promise

by lar_laughs



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: First Order, Gen, LiveJournal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-06
Updated: 2009-09-06
Packaged: 2017-10-08 08:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/74746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lar_laughs/pseuds/lar_laughs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marlene does what she can during a battle against the Death Eaters</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Promise

There was no place so beautiful to Marlene as the view of the forest from the roof of her house on the side of the mountain. She had climbed there for the first time as a toddler, escaping the confines of a house full of children. There she had just been one more mouth to feed and body to clothe. There were so many McKinnons that two hands couldn't be used to count them all. Before bedtime every night, when the sun was setting over the loch, the tiny child climbed with steady legs up to the very peak of the house to watch the play of colours on the clouds. It became her favourite time of day.

During her years at Hogwarts, she spent many hours trying to find a similar view from the Ravenclaw Tower. It was a higher vantage point but there were still the same trees as at home and a loch just as wide, but it wasn't the same. Not as haunting at sunset. Or as beauitful in autumn.

Perhaps it was because at the school she had a name and a position even amoung the hundreds of other students. No more being left to her own devices to find beauty in nature. Here she was known and accepted. Marlene McKinnon. Ravenclaw. Good with numbers. Good with figuring out what the numbers had to say. Good at seeing the path the numbers were taking into the future.

And now…

"Will they come tonight?" Alice asked from only a few yards away, the dark hiding her well enough that they didn't need any other cover on the roof of the McGovern house. It was the highest place in town, a vantage point for the coming battle.

"Yes. And no." The path stretched out in her mind, the result of days of research. All the other members had given their best estimates of who would come tonight and she had run the numbers. It had been tiring but she was confidant of the plan. This was the reason they had her in their group, after all. Her dueling skills left something to be desired even though both Alice and Caradoc had been working with her when they had the time. Still, they hadn't left her alone. Not just yet. Too much hung on her being able to pinpoint the Death Eaters' next moves.

"No? Did you get something wrong?"

She shook her head even though she knew that the movement was wasted. "Not wrong. Something's changed. Some of them are holding back. They'll come in two waves."

A ghostly shape emerged from Alice's wand, a mere flicker of her Patronus flying down to let Frank know the change in plan. They were the only ones who would use this method tonight, their intimate connection letting them only use a whisper of the normal spell to pass information back and forth.

The battle started with a shower of red sparks, answered quickly with a stream of blue. From this height, the colours blended to form a picture, of sorts. Marlene narrowed her eyes, wishing she could stop thinking of who might be behind each explosion of colour. Instead, she thought of the trees back home, the red and gold leaves dancing in the continual breeze. Back and forth. Back and forth.

A cry reached their aerie. One of their own had gone down. Alice let out a sigh but stayed silent and still. Her one duty was to protect this rear position.

Marlene put a hand to her forehead as the paths switched once again. "Behind us," she croaked with a voice suddenly unwilling to be used. "The second wave is circling around behind us."

"Get out your wand, Marlene. Now we'll see how well you remember your defensive spells. Just keep yourself out of the way as much as possible and let me do the rest."

"Wait." Marlene closed her eyes to better concentrate. A path ended as if coming to a blockade. Then another. And another. "They've been taken care of."

Alice was at her side, her hand resting Marlene's shoulder. "What?"

"I don't know what happened but they're not there anymore. Their path has disappeared."

A wraith wrapped around Alice's shoulder, enfolding her in a ghostly embrace. The words out of the warthog's mouth were garbled to Marlene but she heard Alice let out a snort of laughter. "They had just enough time to reason that a split in the group meant they were circling around behind. Frank and Benjy took them out without a fight. He says we need to go back to the house. They'll meet us. There's nothing more for you to do here."

There was no celebration that night but every single member of the Order of the Phoenix came up to Marlene to congratulate her on a job well done. They were all drinking to the memory of a fallen comrade, etching his name in their memory since they would be the only ones to know his sacrifice. Marlene mourned with them even though she didn't ever pick up her glass. It was hard enough to rearrange the numbers without having alcohol muddle her brain.

As morning approached, she wrapped up in a blanket and headed for the roof of the house they used as Order headquarters. As the sun leaned over the horizon, she let the tears roll down her face and neck. This wasn't quite the view she loved but these people were her family. They accepted her for who she was and what she could do. No view was more lovely than the one from where she knew she was loved.

They had lost one of their own tonight and that made her sad, but she also wept for the ones who might have died if they hadn't fought this battle. She fought for the children who weren't accepted or didn't have a family to keep them safe. From here at the highest point in her life, she sent the promise out once again.

"I will protect you. I will defend you. You never have to worry or fear. Be safe for another day."


End file.
